The present invention relates to a storage system and a license management method, more particularly to those preferably applied to a virtualization system.
In recent years, a so-called disk array apparatus in which a plurality of hard disk drives is managed and operated using a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) system has been widely used as a storage apparatus for storing data in corporations and government offices.
In this kind of storage apparatus, various optional functions such as ‘remote copy’ are pre-installed. A user can make the storage apparatus execute those optional functions by paying consideration for each of them to receive permission to use them (hereinafter referred to as “license”) from the manufacture and installing a license key, with the license, for releasing a lock on the optional function that is issued.
It should be noted that JP-A-2004-295846 discloses a license management method as a technique of license management in a storage apparatus in which, when a client who has received a license uses a restricted component, the client always requires the license management server to give authorization, and the license management server judges whether or not to give the authorization based on restriction information such as user management information, client management information, and the number of registerable clients for each component, and the client can use and execute the component only after it receives the authorization.